It was all just a game
by VeerWilde
Summary: Set at the beginning of season six. Slightly AU. Sam catches Dean staring and wants to see how far he can push him. Slash.
1. Chapter 1

This was written when season six began so it was my take on the whole soulless mess before I know Sam was actually soulless…

So let's just say this is AU then I can do what the hell with it. Reviews appreciated. There is a chapter two; you'll get that when I feel you deserve it.

Unbeta'd

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Sam had caught Dean looking when he'd been getting undressed and he wondered why that filled him with a strange sense of pleasure. His heart had skipped a beat when he'd realised that Dean's eyes had been lingering a little too long on his little brother's naked torso. Dean had looked away then and Sam pulled a t-shirt on. Something in Sam felt like he should test this, he didn't know why. He'd been through enough that his head wasn't telling him that pursuing his brother was as wrong as it possibly should have been.

They'd spent most of their lives in each other's pockets, Sam worshipped Dean. Even now, even when he was soft and unpracticed, not the hunter Sam had once known. He couldn't help but feel that there was something different about their relationship, Sam was finding it hard to get through to Dean, to explain to him that hunting with the Campbells, family, was great.

Sam had missed Dean a lot but he was sure he'd made the right decision in letting him have a life with Lisa. Sam had been jealous that Dean had Lisa but never once had Sam thought that Dean could have both. Sam had always known that as soon as he came back, showed Dean that he was alive that Dean would be willing to leave Lisa and come hunting with him.

He respected Dean for struggling with it as much as he had but ultimately Dean had chosen Sam and the life of a hunter over Lisa. Sam felt a pang of guilt but then decided that he couldn't really care too much because he had Dean back and that was all that really mattered. Still, it seemed that Dean was reluctant and a little bit cold. There was none of the affection that had been there before. The mere thought of that tore Sam's heart in two. He knew full well that he'd made mistakes, he just wished that Dean could forgive him.

Maybe Dean blamed him for dragging him from Lisa or maybe Dean was holding a grudge because Sam hadn't come to Dean as soon as he'd climbed out of the cage. Sam hoped that he and Dean could talk about this but Sam knew that Dean would ask questions about what he'd been through and Sam didn't want to talk about it. He didn't need to talk about it. He'd had a year to struggle through it in his head and that had been enough.

Dean had looked for him, struggled with his death and Sam had been there all along. Sam hated that Dean thought that he just hadn't bothered, hadn't cared enough to let his brother know that he was all right. That wasn't the case, in fact it couldn't be further from the truth. Sam hadn't contacted Dean because he didn't want to ruin the apple-pie life he was finally able to build.

Sam had to forget about Dean, he'd got on with hunting. He was so absorbed in it that he only thought about Dean on the darkest, quietest of nights when he wished that he was in a motel somewhere with his big brother on the bed next to him. There was a hole in his heart that only Dean could fill which is why Sam jumped at the chance when he knew he'd have to save Dean from the Djinn.

Dean would be back on track soon but things were never going to be the same. Both of them had changed. Dean was gentler, something Sam had no doubt been bringing out in all the time they'd been hunting, it had just been tipped by Lisa. Sam was more ruthless, he'd seen enough to know that the world, heaven and hell were all shit places. He didn't need any emotional connections, he just wanted to hunt, kill, salt and burn.

But now that Dean was here Sam felt himself relax into his own skin, having Dean around brought back memories good and bad and yet he couldn't help but put on the pretence that he didn't really care about anyone but himself. He needed to show Dean that he was strong and that the cage hadn't affected him. But Sam felt like he was pushing Dean away and as much as he wanted to talk to his brother he wasn't sure he could.

Maybe if Sam just waited this out Dean would stop wanting answers, would stop pining for Lisa and things would go back to normal.


	2. Chapter 2

Another chapter for you and I'm actually going to work on a third for you. Once again, I'd love to know what you think. Thanks for the favourites, adds and all that jazz on the first chapter of this and my other story. It's appreciate.

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Maybe it was boredom that made Sam want to pursue this, made him want to mess with his brother to try and ellicit some sort of reaction. He'd been tirelessly asking if Sam was okay, which he was, but it was getting annoying. Sam needed to distract Dean and get him to loosen up a bit. Sam wondered how much attention he could give Dean before making him feel uncomfortable, he wondered if Dean was so in need of affection that he'd lean into Sam's every advance or if he'd do what any normal person would do and begin to realise that much closeness between brothers was a bit weird.

Sam didn't know why he needed to know he just did. It was probably just some excuse to get close to Dean, if he was playing a game then it didn't really count, it didn't matter how close they got. Sam had been through enough that trying to make your brother feel uncomfortable about your sexual advances didn't seem weird or wrong. It was just a game, he was just pranking Dean like he always had.

When Dean got back from getting food Sam thought about how he was going to go about this. He wasn't sure whether to take the subtle approach or to be a bit more obvious. Dean was grumbling about 'the fucking cashier' who's short changed him and how he'd then got stuck in traffic so the food was probably cold by now anyway. Once Dean had placed the food on the table and looked at Sam questioningly waiting for some response Sam was striding towards him. He'd had every intention of kissing Dean but Dean's shocked look at Sam simply walking towards him said that probably wasn't a good idea. So Sam just pulled him into a very tight hug.

"Alright, Sammy. I wasn't gone that long."

Sam didn't pull out of the hug until he felt Dean relax into him, he was cool from being outside and Sam could feel the pulse in his neck where his cheek was pressed to it. Dean hadn't hesitated to wrap his arms around Sam either, at least this was normal for them. Sam wasn't going to explain himself or give an excuse for hugging his brother, he shouldn't need one.

Once he felt Dean tense up and begin to pull away Sam released him and smiled before turning to the table and opening up the bag of food. He was hungry and Dean had been gone quite a while.

"What was that for?" Dean asked coming to stand beside him and barely even paying attention to the food that Sam was dragging out of the bag.

Sam shrugged one shoulder, "can't I hug my brother?"

"Course you can, Samantha," Dean chuckled before ripping a burger from Sam's hands and sitting down at the table.

Sam had expected to confuse Dean more but it seemed that Dean expected stupid little shows of affection from his brother. Sam would have to be more subtle, teasing.

The next time Sam felt inspired by his new game was the following day. They were researching some suspicious deaths that were happening two towns over. They needed to establish if this was their sort of thing before going in there guns blazing.

Dean was sitting at the table in their motel room staring at the laptop screen, Sam had been out to get beers. It felt like they'd been at this for hours, they probably didn't have much choice but to head into town the next day and see what was going on. Most of the town's residents had been ordered to stay in their homes by the police while they tried to ascertain what was going on, why all those people were dying.

Sam placed the beers on the table before pulling one out and handing it to Dean, "found anything?" He walked around the table, behind Dean, heading to the seat he'd been sitting in prior to going on a beer run. However, he didn't sit down right away. Very gently he ran his hand down the exposed skin of the back of Dean's neck before resting his hands on his shoulder. He let it linger there for a moment and then sat down, removing his hand from Dean and opening his own beer.

Dean turned his head to look at Sam what was sitting close next to him looking over at the laptop. Sam could tell that Dean was trying to work him out and when Dean didn't answer his question he looked at his brother. Sam simply raised his eyebrows, trying to ignore how close their faces were now. "Dean? Have you found anything?"

Snapping his head back round to look at the computer screen Dean sighed, "nothing."


	3. Chapter 3

I don't know what is possessing me to pump out these chapters so quickly but you get some actual touching in this scene. Definitely AU now, can't keep up Sam's uncaring, soulless personality, it doesn't fit with where this i going. Would love to know what you think.

Also, if you have Twitter, come say hello I'm veerwilde.

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Sam was savouring his drink as Dean downed beer after beer. The mess they'd found themselves in was more than they could comprehend, demons were terrorising this little town and although the crisis was averted, for now, they had no idea why. Why this small place, it had nothing of interest other than this bar and a church, which they'd already searched.

"I guess it's time to move on," said Dean, looking between the bottles on the table to find the one with beer in it.

"The demons will be back, Dean," Sam ran his hand idly down the neck of his bottle, very aware that Dean was watching him.

"So we're just supposed to stay here? Wait until they come back so we can do all this over again?" he was slurring.

Sam never criticised Dean's drinking but he'd noticed that it had been happening more and more, probably to get away from thoughts of Lisa and whatever longing he had to be back with her. "No but we should find out why they were here," if anything Sam was a little curious. Dean was right, they'd done their job and they could move on but Sam found it baffling that it had been this town.

"Fine, Sammy, we can do this your way," Dean was already three quarters of the way through that beer, his fifth in just under an hour.

Sam realised then that Dean was more or less happy to go along with whatever Sam was saying, he was happy to let his little brother take charge. Was that because Dean was still finding his feet again when it came to hunting or was it because he was so happy to see his brother that he would do anything Sam asked?

It also looked like Dean was running into all this with much more reckless abandon than he ever had before. He was cut and bruised to hell whilst Sam was virtually unscathed from their fight. His lip was split and he had a nasty graze down one cheek, the once-red mark under his right eye was puffing up into a dark bruise. He looked vulnerable and broken. Sam almost told him to go back to Lisa, to continue living his normal life but Sam didn't want that, Dean had chosen him.

"Beer?" Dean had finished his and was pointing at Sam's almost empty bottle. Sam just nodded.

Shamelessly he watched Dean walk over to the bar, he was tense, walking carefully, making a point of not bumping into anyone else. His shoulders were hunched and with every step he looked like he was trying to suppress a limp.

Dean came back beaming and holding four beers although his smile soon faded. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Sam looked away from Dean and sighed, "you're hurt."

"Of course I'm hurt," he sat down, "we just battled an army of demons." He wasn't bothering to keep his voice down and Sam frowned.

"Are you okay?"

Dean laughed, "I just ache a bit that's all." He took a long swig of his beer and then frowned, "were you just watching me the whole time I was at the bar?"

"Yep."

"Right."

Silence.

They left shortly after that, Dean drinking three of the four beers. Their motel was only a short walk from the bar but Dean insisted on calling a cab. He was quiet on the drive back, looking out of the window and occasionally shifting in his seat.

Back at the motel Dean opted to go to bed, again Sam watched him as he undressed. There was no missing the bandage on his leg.

"Dean?" Sam walked over to him before he could get under the covers. It wasn't unlike Dean to hide an injury, and it probably wasn't that bad but Sam felt the need to check on his brother regardless.

Dean tried to wriggle away as Sam approached, "it's nothing, Sammy."

Sam placed his hand on Dean's thigh, just below the wound, his skin was hot, probably hotter than it should've been but that might be down to the alcohol. The bandage was soaked with blood on one side and Sam could feel that Dean had tensed up.

"I've bandaged it, it's fine," Dean tried to bat Sam out of the way.

"No, it's not, it needs rebandaging, I'll do it."

Dean stopped protesting and allowed Sam to remove the bandage and clean the wound. Basic medical supplies were always close at hand; they'd learnt to clean themselves up after fights. Multiple trips to the hospital would be more than suspicious.

As Sam cleaned the wound with warm water and cotton wool he placed his free hand on the inside of Dean's thigh, maybe a little higher than was necessary. He wondered if Dean had noticed, if his skin was prickling at the sensation, a fire spreading up to his groin. Sam hoped so; he knew that was how he felt whenever Dean touched him.

Dean shifted a little on the bed, Sam was very aware that Dean was watching what he was doing. "How did you get this?" he looked up and Dean was staring at him. They were closer than Sam had first realised and he wondered why he now felt a little uncomfortable. This wasn't supposed to be how this went; he was supposed to drive Dean insane, not the other way round.

"One of those things with the claws got me," he was still looking at Sam, their eyes locked.

Sam nodded and was the first to look away as he grabbed a fresh bandage and continued with his job. He wasn't going to stop with seeing how far he could push Dean but he wondered what he would ever do if he did push Dean too far, if Dean didn't reject his advances.

Wound bandaged and Sam stood, he let his fingers trace a very faint line down Dean's thigh as he moved away. Looking at his brother Sam realised his shoulders and chest were pricked with goose bumps. "All done," he said.

"Thanks, Sammy,"


End file.
